Buffalo Bills Hire Jim Hostler as Senior Offensive Assistant

The Buffalo Bills’ coaching staff shuffle continued Wednesday when the team announced it hired Jim Hostler as a senior offensive assistant.

Previously the offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers in 2007, Hostler spent the past six years as the wide receivers coach of the Baltimore Ravens, and has 15 total years of NFL coaching experience.

It is not yet clear what Hostler’s role within the Buffalo coaching staff will entail, but he could continue to work with Buffalo’s wide receivers as the Bills fired their wide receivers coach, Ike Hilliard, at the end of this past season.

It makes sense for the Bills to bring in a coach with a successful background in working with wide receivers such as Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin and Marlon Brown. Buffalo has a number of young wide receivers, most notably Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin, in need of development. Additionally, it would come as little surprise if the Bills draft another wideout to add to a group that did not have a single wide receiver above 600 receiving yards in 2013.

Hostler’s move to the Bills comes just two days after the Ravens announced the hiring of Gary Kubiak as offensive coordinator, a position that Hostler was also a candidate for. Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun wrote Monday that Hostler was “contemplating whether to remain with a team where it doesn’t look as if he’ll have an opportunity to advance in the immediate future.

Hostler is the third new addition to the Buffalo coaching staff this month, joining defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and quarterbacks coach Todd Downing, but he won’t be the last.

Head coach Doug Marrone has had four members of his coaching staff hired away by the Cleveland Browns this month, with three assistants following former Bills defensive coordinator and new Browns head coach Mike Pettine to Cleveland. Buffalo had also previously parted ways with inside linebackers coach Chuck Driesbach, who has also joined Pettine’s staff in Cleveland. The Bills might also be set to lose defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, as the team granted him permission yesterday to interview with the Browns, according to Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com.